


There are many ways to interpret spreading Fire Nation culture.

by ConvenientAlias



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Diplomacy, F/F, Multi, Past Azula/Mai/Ty Lee
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:35:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26327977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConvenientAlias/pseuds/ConvenientAlias
Summary: Azula is sent as a diplomat to stabilize a peace treaty with the Southern Water Tribe, Mai traveling with her as support. It's all very boring with the exception of a girl who may or may not be spying on them.
Relationships: Azula/Mai, Azula/Mai/Katara
Comments: 4
Kudos: 42
Collections: We Die Like Fen 4: We Lived to Die Afen





	There are many ways to interpret spreading Fire Nation culture.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ElasticElla](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElasticElla/gifts).



The first blow was the assignment itself. Azula would have thought, after she practically delivered Ba Sing Se to her father on a platter, that he would have rewarded her with an important position in the council or perhaps officially named her Crown Princess. Failing that, she would have taken the title of general very happily. Instead she was being sent as a diplomat to stabilize a peace treaty with the Southern Water Tribe.

Her. Stabilizing a peace treaty. With a small group of tribes that, while certainly an annoyance to the Fire Navy, was still hardly a major player in the political situation—at least, as far as Azula could see, and she usually could see the political situation pretty damn well.

She took that pretty well, though. The assignment was delivered in public, so all she did was smile and bow and say, “Thank you, Father. I am honored to serve you.”

The second blow came when she approached Ozai in private. “I wanted to ask you why you’re really sending me to the Southern Water Tribe,” she said. “If you want me to eliminate them, I don’t need a mask of diplomacy to do it. Even if their fleet has returned home, their numbers are still low. This would be the ideal time to take a few ships and destroy them entirely, while they’re gathered together and not spread out all over the sea. Approaching them as a diplomat… do we need to be that indirect?”

She expected Ozai would explain his reasoning to her in a way she could understand, or perhaps speak vaguely enough that she could interpret the assignment as she wished and handle it her own way as she had in the past. Instead, he turned on her the sort of disapproving glare he more often turned on Zuko. “Azula, I’m sending you as a representative to secure this treaty and spread the Fire Nation's influence and culture, and that is what you will do. Do you have a problem with your mission? Do you feel yourself incapable?”

“Of course not,” she said defensively, “but it seems like a waste of effort on a pathetic group of—”

“I will decide how to spend my effort,” Ozai said sternly. “Do your duty, Azula. If I have more orders for you, you’ll hear from me.”

He then became extremely unavailable all the way up to Azula’s departure.

The third blow was Ty Lee, who, a mere two days before she and Azula and Mai were to leave for the Southern Water Tribe, somehow mysteriously vanished. Azula searched the city for her, interrogated her family, checked the local circuses, but there was no time to search as thoroughly as she would have liked. She couldn’t delay her departure without angering Ozai.

“She probably ran off on her own,” Mai said, when their ship had left and the two of them were shut up in Azula’s cabin together in private. “You know Ty Lee has moods like that.”

This was meant to be consoling. It was, in a way. Azula didn’t like to think that Ty Lee had fallen victim to foul play and that was why she had gone missing—it didn’t seem likely, but it was always a possibility, and if that was really what had happened, then when Azula returned from her mission, the perpetrator would face her wrath. Ty Lee running away was indeed more likely, but it meant that Ty Lee had deliberately left Azula in the lurch for unknown reasons.

“She doesn’t like the cold,” Mai suggested when Azula continued fuming. “We’re going to be in the cold for months, you know.”

“Yes,” Azula said, tone frigid already, “I know that the South Pole is cold, Mai. And I know Ty Lee’s preferences. But I’m her—I’m her princess! We’re her comrades! She can’t just abandon us. Who does she think she is?”

Mai hummed noncommittally. She touched Azula’s shoulder. “Hey,” she said. “I’m still here.”

Azula wheeled around (rocking slightly with the movement of the ship) and glared at her. What exactly was she trying to suggest?

“I mean, with the two of us, we should have any idiots that try to challenge us handled already.”

Azula snorted. “Well, obviously. Just…” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. It had been her and Mai and Ty Lee (and a little Zuko) that took down Ba Sing Se together. It had been her and Mai and Ty Lee (and a little Zuko) together their whole childhood. Now Zuko was still in the capital under careful watch—he had come home from exile but no one really trusted him that much—and Ty Lee was off to places unknown, and it was just Azula and Mai.

But Mai was right, of course. They didn’t need anyone else. There was no reason for Azula to care.

She sank down on a couch. Fortunately her cabin, though small, was well-furnished. “Mai.”

Mai sat. Azula adjusted her position, putting her knees over the side of the couch, her back to the cushion, her head in Mai’s lap. “I have a headache,” she said. It wasn’t a lie. “Run your hands through my hair.”

“Should I take the topknot out?”

“For now.”

Mai did as she asked. And when Azula had calmed down enough that Mai apparently considered her manageable, she pulled Azula up a little and kissed her on the lips. Azula kissed back, and the tension left her little by little.

They really didn’t need anyone else, she told herself. Mai could take care of her. Not that she needed taking care of. But Mai would have her back—you didn’t really need more than one person for that.

* * *

The Southern Water Tribe was pretty boring.

Azula was taking her diplomatic mission seriously, of course. By the time they arrived, she had decided this assignment was her father’s way of asking her to prove that she was capable of dealing with delicate political matters without recourse to military methods, and so she was determined to succeed. Trading routes, taxation, territorial issues, and so on and so forth—yes, she was quite capable of handling these things, even if Chief Hakoda disagreed with her at every turn. (And how he had the audacity to consistently disagree with a representative of the Fire Nation, she had no idea, and she had wanted to bend at him eighteen times by now but she had controlled herself because this was her handling things nonviolently, see, Daddy? She could do that just fine.)

But it was all pretty boring. No one wanted to start a fight except in the verbal sense, and Azula lived for a good fight. It was better if the Southern Water Tribe wanted to make a reasonable peace treaty as quickly as possible so Azula could go home, but it was so very, very dull.

The most amusement she’d had in weeks was sparring with Mai.

Mai was a good sparring partner. The only better one was Zuko, who could actually redirect lightning, though he would sometimes flatly refuse to let her use it in a match. Mai couldn’t firebend so Azula didn’t use lightning around her, but otherwise she hardly had to hold back at all. Mai could doge any fire blasts Azula sent at her easily, and just as easily get close enough that Azula had to give up on firebending and rely solely on kicking and punching and blocking.

Lately there was another diversion, too, because every time Azula sparred with Mai, she noticed someone watching them. Katara, Chief Hakoda’s daughter. She was always part of the small crowd that gathered when they trained in public places during the day, but she also often showed up when they trained in more private areas, and even when they trained at night, fire blazing in the dark and cold, Azula often caught a glimpse of her.

It was all very well to watch, but the way Katara did it seemed a little obsessive. Suspicious.

That end, Azula told Mai one night that they would train around midnight in the area set aside for them behind their guest igloo, and keep an eye for any watchers. Katara showed up soon after they started. Azula made a gesture with her head, and Mai darted over, quick and sudden, and grabbed Katara’s arm.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

Katara started back, looking steadily guiltier as Azula approached with a flame in hand to light their conversation. Then she drew herself up and held up her chin and said, “Why shouldn’t I be here? I came by to—to wish you and Princess Azula a good night, and suggest you stay in. It’s going to be especially cold tonight.”

“That explains tonight,”Azula said. “But you’ve been watching us every time we spar. In fact, you stare at me every time I bend. Care to explain that?”

Katara said, “Well… I’m interested in… bending. Firebending, that is. And the way you fight.”

“Why? Are you spying on us? Is the Southern Water Tribe not sincere about this peace treaty? What do you tell your father about what you see? How much does he ask you to report? How does he plan to use the information?”

“What—No, I’m not a spy.” Katara sounded honestly indignant. But indignance was an easy way to lie. “I—I’m interested in… Fire Nation culture.”

“Fire Nation culture?” Azula raised her eyebrows. “You’ve been watching us spar like a hawk—not even the other soldiers with us, just us—for the sake of Fire Nation culture?”

Katara looked a little red. “Well, you’re the princess, aren’t you? And Mai’s a lady. You’re… cultured.”

Azula and Mai exchanged looks.

Azula didn’t buy the “culture” excuse for a minute. But there might be one explanation besides Katara being a spy that would apply in this case, given how awkward she was acting. It was worth testing out. She said, “Come inside, then, and we’ll talk more about Fire Nation culture. There’s more to it than firebending, you know.”

They all sat down inside the guest igloo. At home, Azula would have offered a guest like this tea, but here she’d gotten out of the habit. So there was a bit of a silence for a minute, with Katara looking like she very much wanted to flee, and Mai looking a little amused, before Azula decided on her approach. She cleared her throat. “Mai is indeed a lady, a lady with many accomplishments outside of her fighting style. Many people back home admire her, but some of her greatest skills, she’ll only demonstrate for me, or at my allowance. Isn’t that so, Mai?”

Mai nodded, though she said nothing and looked a bit less amused and more tolerant. That was fine; Mai had a great capacity for tolerance, and ultimately she always did follow Azula’s lead. Azula walked over to Katara and began to unbutton her heavy parka. “Since you’re so interested in our culture, she and I can demonstrate those skills for you right now. A special favor to the daughter of the chief. Would you like that?”

Katara was trembling. “What sort of skills?”

Azula leaned closer so that her mouth was close to Katara’s neck. “Well, in the Fire Nation, sometimes girls who are friendly with each other get together at night—like we are right now—in little gatherings, and we eat and drink and give each other pleasure. I’m not very hungry or thirsty, though, and I don’t think Mai is either. So we might as well skip ahead, hm?”

Katara gulped. But she didn’t stop Azula from drawing the parka off her shoulders, and after a moment she said, “Okay. Sure. Fine. If you want to show me how.”

* * *

Later, Katara would go back to her own home in a daze and heave a huge sigh of mingled relief, and exhaustion. She’d thought for sure that the Fire Nation princess had guessed the real reason Katara watched her—trying to pick up an idea of how to bend from one of the few benders she’d ever seen, even if this one was not a waterbender. It hadn’t been going well so far for her, but she hadn’t been able to stop herself from going back to watch again and again, hadn’t been able to stop hoping. Or stop herself from staring at the two Fire Nation girls and the graceful way they moved, especially when they fought hard and close, moving from bending and stabbing into wrestling, their bodies intertwining with each other. Sometimes she’d found herself picturing the two doing other things up close and personal like that, but she would never have imagined actually witnessing it. Yet tonight… Tonight had been very strange, and breathtaking.

It wasn't something she'd sought out, of course. She would never. The Fire Nation had killed her mother; the Fire Nation was the reason she had to keep her bending hidden, had to lower herself to snooping and trying to figure out bending on her own. She hated the Fire Nation and, although her father had told her to be courteous, hated those girls too, all the diplomats and soldiers the Fire Nation had sent over. She would never have invited this sort of thing from them, their hands on her body, their mouths... Even if she'd imagined it a little, she hadn't been serious about it.

She wondered if it would happen again, if she kept going back to watch them. She still wanted to observe their bending, after all.

And back in Mai and Azula’s igloo, Mai would watch Azula ready herself for bed at last. “Do you like Katara?” she would ask.

And Azula would say, “She’s pretty, but not too interesting. Still, she’s pretty. We might try to teach her some things.”

And Mai would quietly assent. Always like this with Azula. She never quite admitted to liking things, or especially to liking people, but when someone or something caught her eye she could get quite demanding for a while. Mai had figured Azula would come up with some new distraction or obsession in the South Pole; she had been restless lately, and Mai was not enough to dispel her restlessness. It had always been more Ty Lee’s job to deal with Azula’s energy and redirect it if necessary, while Mai was more of a steadying force, a support. Azula could say she didn’t need more than Mai, but it wasn’t quite true. She liked Mai, but Mai wasn’t quite interesting enough, and Mai knew it.

She wished for the hundredth time Ty Lee hadn’t run off on them. Not something she could say to Azula, who was already pissed about it, but just the two of them—it made her nervous. Difficult dealing with Azula on her own.

Now there would be Katara. Katara, who Mai still thought was hiding something, who Azula had apparently decided was “pretty, but not too interesting” and wouldn’t be on guard against. Mai would be watching Katara very carefully. She could only hope Katara would help to balance Azula the way Ty Lee did, and that nothing would go wrong.


End file.
